Murder Ink 8/20/14

Edward Ericson Jr.City Paper

MurdersThis Week: 3This Year: 132

While news of a police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri—800 miles from Baltimore—dominated news coverage, the homicide flare-up of the previous week appeared to subside, with just three killings recorded during the week. In all three cases, police reported “trauma to the body” instead of specifying a stabbing, shooting, or other means.

Monday, Aug. 11

5:07 p.m. George Darnell Myrick, a 45-year-old African-American man, was found dead in a car at the Doris Johnson High School at 2801 St. Lo Drive, in Clifton Park. Police say he appeared to have suffered “trauma to the head and body.” Myrick lived about a mile and a half north, on the 1500 block of Ralworth Road, police said. They are looking for witnesses.

Friday, Aug. 15

9:52 a.m. Duane Mitchell, a 53-year-old African-American man, was found dead on the ground in his garage apartment on the 4100 block of Fernhill Avenue. Police discovered “trauma to the body.” The Sun featured a story about Mitchell’s landlord, Charles Gorham, who found his body. Gorham said he took Mitchell in as an act of charity because he had no place to stay. The night after the murder, someone burned down the garage apartment.

Saturday, Aug. 16

8:01 p.m. Police called to a home on the 1400 block of Gorsuch Avenue, in the Coldstream Homestead Montebello neighborhood, found a man who had been murdered, with “trauma to his body.” By press time they had not yet identified the victim, though in an update police said they had taken a “person of interest” into custody, and said that person—who they had not yet identified or charged—had been in a dispute with the unidentified victim. This murder occurred about six blocks from where George Myrick was found five days before.

Updates

The man shot to death on the 1300 block of East Lafayette Avenue on Aug. 9 was Dominic Baker, age 29. The woman stabbed to death on 1500 block of Marshall Street was Sara Harris, age 45.